As a graduation present, my parents are sending me and a friend to whistler. Origonaly, it was for th eweek of crankworks. However, I changed it b/c I want to ride, not watch, and I imagine it would be super crowded. As of now, I have it schedualed for the week before crankworx. My friend said that A line and a bunch of other runs will be shut down and it will still be super crowded. Is this true, should I change my trip dates (I only have two weeks where I can go).

Crankworx is beyond crowded. To be honest, during the event its the busiest time of year. Yes during this event (on certain days) you will find a-line closed, parts of garbonzo, and just generally misc stuff closed. I live here and love it, but doubt I would pay to come see it and not be able to ride.

Keep in mind a 2 week vacation will still give you 1 week of pristine riding (come up the week before as the trails get cleaned up) and 1 week of misc riding due to crankworx

As a graduation present, my parents are sending me and a friend to whistler.

Great parents! We're doing something similar for our son graduating college this year . . . only he has to let the ol' man tag along Upside is he'll get first-class accomodations and some good home-cooked food to boot.

What I meant was I get to go to whistler for one week. There are only two one-week blocks in the summer that I can go to whistler and one of them (the one I have reserved) is for the week before crankworx. I was wondering if the week before cranckworx will still be supper crowded and have some runs shut down.

Both weeks are crowded. And the week before the shut down some trails to begin maintenance of the race course(s). However, the week before is crap loads better than the "during"...all the pros up here chilling and practicing.

I'll be going and I heard to go during the beginners qualifiers, that will give you some time for a few good runs. And stay up top, ride freight train, all the little toerags will want to ride a-line. I don't know, i've never been myself. Still, I'm gonna have a blast!
Graduation present huh? wait a decade when you have to pay for the trip yourself.